Black Project

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Black Project ( dt .: Black Project ) is a colloquial term for a top- secret project . This term was coined by secret armaments projects of the US Air Force . The term is still closely associated with the secret armaments manufacturers Phantom Works ( Boeing ) and Skunk Works ( Lockheed Martin ). Despite the high level of secrecy, projects or individual details sometimes become known by chance or errors in secrecy. Many of the projects only exist as concept studies or do not go beyond the prototype stage.

The term is used for projects that are classified as top secret either by government agencies or in-house. Although the term Black Project is still mainly used in American military aviation today, the term is spreading more and more to other countries, companies and industries. The term skunk works has also become a general term for projects that are carried out in-house without the knowledge of management.

The following well-known projects were developed as the Black Project :

The work of such development companies is often the subject of speculation and conspiracy theories . Projects usually only become known to the public after many years. A similar phenomenon from the military and secret service area are "Black Operations" or "Black Ops". This describes covert operations that are subject to particularly strict secrecy.

Black budget

Such projects are often financed from a classified budget . As part of Edward Snowden's publications in 2013, black budgets of some US intelligence services were also made public.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Doug Richardson: Stealth Warplanes . 2001, ISBN 0-7603-1051-3 .
  2. Urban Ghosts: Rumored Top Secret Aircraft That Probably Never Flew, Or Even Existed. Retrieved February 20, 2013 .
  3. dreamlandresort.com: http://www.dreamlandresort.com/black_projects/aircraft.htm. Retrieved February 20, 2013 .
  4. ufo-contact.com: UFO inspired Black Projects. Retrieved February 20, 2013 .
  5. airforcetimes.com: An SR-72 in the works? Retrieved February 20, 2013 .
  6. fas.org: Mystery blimp. Retrieved February 20, 2013 .
  7. ^ NGO: National Reconnaissance Office Review and Redaction Guide. (PDF; 6.6 MB) Accessed February 20, 2013 .
  8. ^ Special Access Programs and the Defense Budget: Understanding the "Black Budget fas.org, pdf accessed July 31, 2017
  9. ^ Inside the Black Budget nytimes.com
  10. Snowden documents code budget on sueddeutsche.de
  11. ^ The Black Budget washingtonpost.com